Really wondering how this game never got a sequel. I had played a little bit years ago but it got lost in my backlog. Finally picked it back up and restarted the other day and blasted through and I gotta say this is one of the best fps campaigns on Xbox. Cowboy vampire hunters vs the evil dead is such and awesome concept and the game takes advantage of the setting. Cowboys, skeletons, vampires and sexy dead girls galore. It’s just a lot of fun. The shooting feels really tight and enemies arms and heads can be shot off which never stops being satisfying. The guns are pretty typical, revolver, carbine, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, etc but the stand out is an awesome shotgun with a battle axe on the hilt which makes for one of the best melees in an fps. Enemy variety is a little weak but just good enough to keep things fresh. The vampire powers are cool and the binary choice system isn’t deep but can unlock you different powers depending if you choose good or evil. This definitely gives the game some replay value as well as two different endings depending on your choices. Level design varies between tight shootouts on trains and big open arenas that take advantage of both your leaning behind cover and your very floaty vampire double jump. There’s lots of verticality and the game pushes you into decisions of “do I want to take the high ground in the sunlight and lost my powers or push thru low in the darkness thru swarms of enemies?” This is just one example. There are a few meh turret sections and one wannabe Halo warthog section that isn’t outstanding but the main gameplay loop never got boring. The game took about 5-6 hours to clear and flew bye. The story is silly but the lore and aesthetic is what really gives it its charm. My biggest gripe is I wish there wasn’t so much hand holding thru the constant cutscenes showing you what to do and every time enemies spawn in. The make the game feel a bit choppy but they are skippable and they get more tolerable when you get into the flow of the game. I wish the Xbox version had co op but I definitely see myself coming back to this probably on Ps2 with a friend. This game’s definitely a gem
7/10